Need For Speed: The Run is a lesson in terrible storytelling
Completely ineffective storytelling is one of Need for Speed: The Run's many faults. While I don't require my racing games to have elaborate and believable stories, I do expect them not to feel like a 13-year-old boy's movie script. If you bother implementing a plot, do try to do it well....
Not all racing games are created equal. They may manifest in a myriad of styles but racers centralize around the same concept: driving remarkable cars...quickly. Sadly, implementing that fundamental principle does not guarantee that any game full of cars -- and the subsequent racing -- is enjoyable.
Especially when developers attempt to inject a poorly executed story into very compartmentalized gameplay.
The game begins with your bad-boy protagonist in a world of trouble. He's strapped to the steering wheel of a Ferrari sinking steadily into a trash compactor. While that's not an entirely terrible introduction, the loading screen prior to this event is the only exposition available explaining why the mob wants Jack Rourke (that's you) squashed.
Rather than gracefully introducing an exciting story about one down-and-out driver trying to overcome financial ruin in a grueling cross-country race, Need for Speed: The Run simply dumps all of its establishing information in a loading screen. I'm not sure how often you stick around for exceptionally long breaks in gameplay, but I assure you I'd much rather use that time making a sandwich.
The first rule in creative writing is to show, not tell. Rather than spending six paragraphs announcing how fabulous Mr. Darcy is, you show him in action, allowing him to present his character through words and how other characters react. The Run tells us that Jack Rourke is cocky, and that his arrogance ultimately caused his run-in with the mob. That's an uninspired origin, especially the part where he is already a phenomenal driver. Rather than empathizing with Jack, I'm left with an uninteresting shell that I eventually need to care about if I'm going to get anywhere in the game.
This tragic misstep continues whenever something important happens. Rather than letting the story guide itself, occasional info-dumps blandly explain the plot to you. This race will net the winner lots of money. You must drive from San Francisco to New York, besting over 150 other racers.
This premise doesn't sound inherently terrible, but the Run is too disconnected to have a cohesive story. Each stage of your cross-country trek is represented by a cluster of racing events. The Run is a breathtakingly beautiful game to see in motion, but actually controlling it is like driving a marshmallow.
Also, this supposed cross-country race doesn't actually feel that grueling. Occasionally you change location, but absolutely no effort goes into translating racing action back into story progression. Sometimes Jack runs from the mob. Other times he's trying to make up lost time, but none of it feels urgent or dangerous. It's just another scripted, but uninspiring, thing the developers ask you to do.
Need for Speed: The Run is a staggeringly underwhelming game compared to other recent NFS installments. The idea of a playable race from San Francisco to New York City is an interesting one, but it is completely destroyed by obtuse storytelling and a cloyingly disjointed presentation.
